1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the field which has become known as the bio-feedback field. In particular, a means for producing an electro-neuro signal, and a method for utilizing the same in a bio-feedback system as the stimulus to the living organism, is disclosed.
2. Prior Art
It has been discovered that a living organism, typically an animal high on the intelligence scale, can control its brainwave and nervewave patterns and bring about permanent or long lasting changes thereto by a process of learning; and, further, that the changes induced in the bioelectrical patterns can be such as to result in the substantial control of epileptic seizures, hyperkinesis and insomnia. This therapeutic approach has also been shown to be useful in correcting motor disorders such as the loss of motor control attributable to a spinal cord lesion. The prior art provides methods and systems enabling the application of this discovery in many fields including neurological therapy and brain research.
One invention in this field, disclosed in Ross' U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,331, teaches a means and method whereby a single bioelectrical signal is detected at a specific topological location in the nervous system of a living organism. Means are disclosed for detecting a particular electrical characteristic of interest in the single signal and, if it is present, feeding back to the organism a sensory indication of its presence. By this means and method, the organism can be trained to alter the waveform pattern of a bioelectrical signal detected in its nervous system.
A subsequent invention, disclosed Ross U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,616, teaches a method for training a living organism to alter multiple characteristics in the waveform pattern of a single bioelectrical signal, or multiple characteristics in the waveform patterns of a plurality of such signals. The second invention was based upon the discovery that a living organism can learn to alter multiple characteristics of one or more bioelectrical signals in its nervous system at the same time, thereby achieving new and beneficial results. In view of this discovery, the second invention teaches a means and a method by which such multiple-characteristic alteration training can be carried out.
Both of the foregoing inventions, and most other prior art bio-feedback systems and methods, typically utilize visual and/or aural bio-feedback means to effect the desired training. It has been found, however, that some patients do not respond well to either of these conventional bio-feedback stimuli. In particular, young patients, patients that have difficulty understanding instructions, and patients with receptive aphasia fall into this category. In addition, when a visual feedback is used, the patient must continuously observe a display. Such observation becomes tiring to the patient. When aural feedback is used, it has been found that patients may become habituated to it within minutes. Thus, the patient may not be able to produce the desired characteristics unless he is interacting with the bio-feedback apparatus. Tactile stimulation has also been tried as the feedback stimulus by means of mechanical (vibrational) stimulation of the epidermis. However, the means for such vibrational stimulation suffer from several disadvantages; namely:
(i) when the vibrations are increased to a high enough level to produce a tactile sensation, they often cause muscular contractions; the latter interfere with the training by introducing spurious bioelectrical signals.
(ii) a vibrational device must be attached securely to the patient's body, which introduces attachment difficulties;
(iii) attachment difficulties may be reduced by attaching the vibrational device to an extremity, but this necessarily limits the choice of locations for the tactile stimulation; and
(iv) the difficulties of varying the AC power to the vibrational device as a function of the amplitude of the electrical signal representing the characteristic of interest has resulted in the use of heavy D.C. batteries, with the attendant disadvantage of their voltage decreasing with time and depletion.
To overcome these problems, the present invention teaches the use of an electro-neuro signal as the bio-feedback stimulus. Electro-neuro feedback is substantially less susceptible to the foregoing disadvantages of prior art means and methods. It should also be realized that electro-neuro feedback may be combined with visual and/or aural feedback when desired.
Patients tested with such electro-neuro stimulation have achieved, with remarkable rapidity, the benefits of bio-feedback training. Heretofore, in bio-feedback training, the utilization of an electro-neuro signal stimulus having the particular characteristics herein disclosed has not been used in lieu of, or in addition to, conventional visual or aural stimuli.